Daily Dose of Good News for Thursday, July 9

A Daily Dose of Good News

Thursday, July 9, 2020 

Pastor Steve’s devotion is offered live at https://youtu.be/LSsuuGqqua4
A printer-friendly version of this devotion is available at DDGN 20200709

Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian; he led his flock beyond the wilderness, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.  There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of a bush; he looked, and the bush was blazing, yet it was not consumed.  Then Moses said, “I must turn aside and look at this great sight, and see why the bush is not burned up.”  When the Lord saw that he had turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.”  Then he said, “Come no closer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.”  He said further, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.
(Genesis 3:1-6)

 

Barefoot Holy Soul Moments

If Moses was able to walk up to his meeting place with God that day
Certainly others would have been able to tread the same path
And end up at the same GPS coordinate
And do so with while keeping their sandals on
While standing on plain old dirt.
What makes the ground holy for Moses
Is what happens there
Is the encounter with God that touches his soul
Standing as he was on the bare soles of his feet.  (grin, grin)

Moses encountered God who was intent on making God’s self known
And soon after would hand down the Law in the 10 commandments
Where the people would encounter God going forward.

All of which makes be wonder about the holy ground
Where you encounter God.
The places you could take off your sandals as God touches your soul.

Baptism for sure is a great example.
As we gather around water that’s just water
Until we encounter God there with the promise of God’s name:
Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Those are holy moments on holy ground.

The last time I heard a sermon preached on this passage
Was during worship at the Beach Community Church in Costa Rica
Where Annika has become involved while she works down there.
And my soul was so touch by God
Who was so clearly caring for my daughter through that community
That I slid off my sandals in the sand
Walking barefoot to the communion table.

We could have taken our shoes off at church last Sunday
As a portion of our faith community gathered anew for worship
Sensing the presence of God that no mask can conceal
And AV equipment can share.

So many other moments and grounds that God makes holy with us too
Celebrating life and faith at the funerals of family and friends
Reveling in the joy of conceiving and delivery a new baby
Affirming the crossing of life passages at graduations and new jobs and new homes
Embracing each other in prayer during sickness, misfortune and distress
Accompanying and serving those who are oppressed and in need.

And I just had another holy moment on holy ground today too,
Visiting, for the first time in four months, with Floradelle Pfahl
Who while she doesn’t know my name anymore,
Recognizes me as a friend,
Talks fondly of Columbus and attending church every Sunday.
While my visits with her have always been intimately warm,
Today’s was physically warm as well since all visits at Ganzhorn Suites
Must be conducted outside right now!

Indeed, there are holy moments on holy ground all over the place,
Because God is all over the place
Ready to grace you with divine presence.
Thanks be to God for the barefoot holy soul moments
You encounter today.
Amen

Daily Bible Reading
  • Jeremiah 19:1-15 January 21, 2021

    ​1Thus said the LORD: Go and buy a potter's earthenware jug. Take with you some of the elders of the people and some of the senior priests, 2and go out to the valley of the son of Hinnom at the entry of the Potsherd Gate, and proclaim there the words that I tell you. 3You shall say: Hear the word of the LORD, O kings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem. Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: I am going to bring such disaster upon this place that the ears of everyone who hears of it will tingle. 4Because the people have forsaken me, and have profaned this place by making offerings in it to other gods whom neither they nor their ancestors nor the kings of Judah have known, and because they have filled this place with the blood of the innocent, 5and gone on building the high places of Baal to burn their children in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal, which I did not command or decree, nor did it enter my mind; 6therefore the days are surely coming, says the LORD, when this place shall no more be called Topheth, or the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of Slaughter. 7And in this place I will make void the plans of Judah and Jerusalem, and will make them fall by the sword before their enemies, and by the hand of those who seek their life. I will give their dead bodies for food to the birds of the air and to the wild animals of the earth. 8And I will make this city a horror, a thing to be hissed at; everyone who passes by it will be horrified and will hiss because of all its disasters. 9And I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and all shall eat the flesh of their neighbors in the siege, and in the distress with which their enemies and those who seek their life afflict them.

    10Then you shall break the jug in the sight of those who go with you, 11and shall say to them: Thus says the LORD of hosts: So will I break this people and this city, as one breaks a potter's vessel, so that it can never be mended. In Topheth they shall bury until there is no more room to bury. 12Thus will I do to this place, says the LORD, and to its inhabitants, making this city like Topheth. 13And the houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah shall be defiled like the place of Topheth — all the houses upon whose roofs offerings have been made to the whole host of heaven, and libations have been poured out to other gods.

    14When Jeremiah came from Topheth, where the LORD had sent him to prophesy, he stood in the court of the LORD's house and said to all the people: 15Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: I am now bringing upon this city and upon all its towns all the disaster that I have pronounced against it, because they have stiffened their necks, refusing to hear my words.

Holy Trinity Lutheran Church